Fighting the Tide
by Neko-Koorime
Summary: Hikari is a demon with an attitude, a quest, and a haunting song that makes no sense, but that she can't forget. She gets along well with most people. Except for this one guy she hates like everything! Too bad it looks like she's stuck with him...
1. Chapter 1

Hikari leaned back in her tree. Life was good. She was free, she was happy, and she'd just got back from her visit with her mother. In fact, her fur had just finished drying. She was just about ready to resume her everlasting search. It never seemed to end.

Would she ever find who she was looking for? Not likely…

With a sigh, Hikari let herself slide down from the tree branch. Her staff fell a few seconds after she did. The feel of the dark wood in her hand made her smile. Her staff had been well used. At the top of the pole was a twisty silver design, a gift her mother had sent. The design featured an ocean wave, a crescent moon, and crossed blades.

Hikari smiled brushed her long silver hair out of her face as she started walking through the trees. Suddenly her ears start twitching like mad. The cat tail behind her flicked with annoyance as the loud whistle she knew was coming pierced the quiet air. She'd have to get another signal. Any animal youkai within miles would be able to hear that…

Sighing she muttered to herself in her usually quiet soft toned voice. "This had better not be a false alarm…"

She reached into her pack and pulled out a piece of chalk, blue like the water with flecks of white, like sea foam. Hopefully, the idiot had decided to get ill near water. If he was even ill at all.

She drew a circle on the ground. . As soon as the shape was complete, it began glowing. Taking a deep breath, Hikari takes a step and whispers to the glowing circle.

"Take me to the sound of the whistle."

* * *

"Any idea what's wrong with him?" 

"Not a one."

"Hn. He's probably faking it…"

"He is not…"

"Oh I bet he is… the lech…"

"SIT!"

A loud thud is heard, and then an incoherent mumbling.

"Serves you right…"

"Why did he ask for that whistle thing?"

A small fox demon held out a small blue whistled, carved out of a shell.

"I don't know…"

None of the people in the room noticed the glowing in a well outside, nor the sputtering noise. They did notice though when some one, who was half wet, with her hair still dripping, came into the hut.

A hanyou with silver hair and ears stopped the girl in the sopping wet kimono that seemed to be drying rapidly.

"What business do you have here?"

"I suggest you move…"

"And if I don't want to?

"I can very well make you."

"Yeah, well I don't think-"

"Oh, Inuyasha, let her in for heaven's sake!"

The hanyou grunted, but moved aside. The girl continued her path. She knelt beside a girl dressed in strange clothes.

"I am a healer. What happened here?"

"But we didn't send for anybody."

"I was sent for…But no matter. What happened?"

"Well, I just got back, and Inuyasha and Sango met me to bring me here. Only one person was here and his back was turned."

Hikari simply nodded. Her staff had been laid beside her but she now picked it up and attached a small crystal to the top. Passing it over the victim, several times it glowed near his ankle. After detaching the crystal she examined the ankle closer.

"He was bitten by a snake. Not too lethal of one, but the venom has knocked him unconscious… funny, I've never seen anything like it before…But nevermind…"

She dug in her bag for a moment before lifting a small vial from it. "One drop should do…"

One drop of the bright blue liquid was enough. The bite wound healed up instantly. But the victim didn't wake up.

Hikari stood and kicked the man on the floor. "Get up Miroku. Lecher of Lechers, move your perverted butt, before I drop it in lake."

"Don't kick him! What kind of healer are you?"

"A temperamental one…MIROKU!"

Miroku opened one eye, to see the fold of amethyst colored material and smiled as he looked upwards at her face. "Ah, _tenshi_, so glad you made it here. I was afraid you were going to ignore me."

"I seriously considered it, trust me. And don't call me _tenshi_…"

Miroku sat up before he was tackled back down by a girl in a pink kimono. The girl Hikari had been kneeling next to stood up and smiled.

"Thank you. I am Kagome Higurashi."

"Hikari Mizukami. How do you put up traveling with that lecher?"

She laughed. "I guess you've met him before… It's not that bad…"

"Met him before? I trained with him. Geez, he even followed me around after wards… until I gave him that whistle and threatened to drown him unless he went away."

"Huh… why did he call you_ tenshi_?"

Hikari stiffened slightly. "Some humans call me the Amethyst Angel…"

"Why?"

"Because when I heal them, often their vision is a little blurry, and to them, my kimono and eyes, both purple, seem like those of an angel… Basically, they're delusional…"

Hikari turned her eyes upwards as she said this. "I don't care much…"

A small voice behind her makes her turn.

"Auntie Hikari?"

"Shippou?"

"Auntie Hikari!"

The young fox demon tackled Hikari to the ground. "Auntie Hikari, it's been so long! Where've you been."

"Oh…around… I've been looking for-"

"Will you be staying with us long?"

Hikari sighed and gently pushed Shippou off..

"Afraid not. Number one, I can't stand Miroku, number two I'm looking for someone… and I've postponed the search long enough…Speaking of which, I'd better go…Good-bye Shippou. I'll visit soon, okay?"

Shippou didn't look very happy, but managed to smile.

Returning the smile, Hikari started off into the woods wondering where her search would take her now. She sighed and resumed her walk, leaving the strange group of travelers behind.

* * *

Glowing eyes watched her from the shadows of the woods. A snake wiggled it's way toward the eyes and disappeared at contact. 

"So… she hasn't changed at all and is nearly exactly like her mother… My little experiment went well… I shall have to keep an eye on her…and strike when she is weak…"

The laugh that followed the statement made the trees around shiver. But Hikari noticed nothing, and continued on her way. She was on her way back to where it all started…

* * *

_**

* * *

**_

Welcome to the longplanned ficcy, which I think is really stupid, but will perhaps get better. Pairing that have been defined are as follows

_**Sango/Miroku**_

**_Inuyasha/Kagome_**

**_And Hikari/Sessomaru, slight Hikari/Koga... but only for a little bit. And a surprise pairing with Hikari. Very slight, nothing happens, even less of than the Koga-ness...And trust me, when you findout, anyone who's reading thiswill want to kill me... But then you'll never find out who shereally ends up with..._**

**_Next chapter should be out tomorrow, or earlier or later, definitely in a week..._**


	2. Chapter 2

Hikari's memory turned to that night…for the most recent time since it had occurred. If she had only stayed for a mere ten minutes longer… everything would have been fine… and she wouldn't have spent so many miserable nights thinking about it, and wishing she had done things differently.

However she was in for even more trouble as she neared the village she smelled trouble. Literally. The smell of wolves was all over. The villagers were all over the are, cleaning up all the damage.. Hikari paused to question one of the women.

"What's going on?"

"Ah, _tenshi-san_! You have returned to us."

"Yes… What's wrong?"

"A pack of wolves just ravaged the place. They killed a few people, and wounded others. Strangely enough, they left all the livestock alone."

"Some jerk must be ordering them around…" Hikari muttered. Then back at normal voice level. "I will help out with the wounded, but I'm afraid I can not reverse death. In the mean time, can you tell me if anyone has seen-"

"The girl? Yes, she was just here…but she was being chased out of town by the wolves. I don't even know where she is now, nor if she's even alive anymore."

Hikari lowered her head and walked further, ignoring the sapphire that was left on the ground as she walked through from bed to bed, keeping her promise. But it was rushed…

Quickly she said a polite good bye and started following the scent of the trail. Canines are such smelly creatures, and these reeked of death and blood. So it was easy to track. She found indications of a whirlwind, or something else moving at high speeds but it didn't make sense. She kept going. She heard a whimpering sound as she rounded one twisty turn of a rocky path. Lying on its side, near the edge of the path was a small cub. A wolf cub. Probably part of the pack she was tracking. How cruel of them to leave it behind like this.

But why?

Hikari approached cautiously. The cub noticed her presence and growled in her direction. Undaunted, Hikari moved forward slowly still. Eventually she reached the poor thing. She didn't need a sensor crystal to tell her that the poor things ankle was the problem.

"I'm here to help… will you let me?"

The growling subsided, and Hikari took it as a yes. She pulled out of her pack a couple bandages and wrapped it up carefully. Then she whispered a few words that can't be used on humans, but works just fine with animals. The words were to relieve pain.

She helped the little thing stand. "There you go. Now behave, and try not to hurt yourself again…"

The wolf scampered off happily, and howled back a thank you. Hikari resumed her walk. Actually, she began following the cub. Completely by accident. Just happened to be where she was going. Up ahead, she could see someone kneeling next to a furry figure and she was torn between speeding up to help, or slowing down in hopes they'd move on.

She ended up keeping the same speed. She could hear him before he saw her or even realized she was there. Yes she could tell it was a male by the scent of him.

"Hey, girl, what happened to you…why'd you fall behind…Hey…you're bandaged! What happened? Who? A cat? A cat. You're pulling my leg."

Hikari by this point was within range now that he couldn't miss her if he wanted to. The demon male looked up. His eyes widened a little bit, but he said nothing to her and he looked down at the cub. "This her?"

The cub ambled over to Hikari and sat next to her. Unsure of what to do, Hikari patted the pup on the head gently before looking up at the male.

"Hikari."

"Koga. Did you help her?"

"Yes. And now I have a question for you…"

"Okay."

"Are you the jerk who's been having his wolves chase innocent villagers around?"

"Um…I'm not sure how to answer that…"

"How about truthfully? And another thing. You're wolves didn't happen to eat a human girl of about 7, did they? Because if they did, I'm going to hold you responsible."

Koga blinked several times. "Well… I'll have to ask. Yeah, that was my pack attacking that village…"

"If they ate that girl, I'm going to kill you slowly and painfully. So, let's go ask."

"Whoa. I never said you were coming!"

Hikari's eyes flashed. "You are on trial here, not me. Lead the way, or I'll find them myself."

Koga muttered to himself annoyed at being ordered around, yet impressed at the same time. He started forward at first at a normal speed, and then faster. Hikari kept pace. Koga figured he could lose her if he went as fast as he could, but he decided against it. His interest was piqued.

His pack was sitting in a glade near a stream relaxing and quenching their thirst. Hikari stood to one side waiting for Koga to answer her question. He came back shortly.

"They say they chased a girl like that… and caught her… but they didn't eat her, and were they were scared off by a bigger demon. So they don't know if she's dead or not. Why is this girl so important to you, anyway?"

Hikari looked away. "None of your business…"

"Okay…geez, I was just asking."

Hikari's mind was spinning in circles. So now she had no idea where to look and her only lead was a dead end… Maybe that's why she didn't hear the question he asked next.

"What?"

"I asked if you'd like to stay with us for, say two weeks? In that time, we'll look for your friend. After all, it's my fault."

"I should say it is!"

"Alright, I'm sorry… so do you accept?"

Hikari thought for a long while. What harm?

"………….Yes."

"Great."

* * *

The next week was spent looking all over, following crazed scents. Hikari actually learned to like it on the move like this. The pack was like a family. Apparently the wolf pup she'd helped had fallen behind and hadn't noticed. Neither had anyone else, though once they'd found out, everyone was worried.

She was settled in and surprisingly happy traveling with Koga. She would do him little favors, and he would surprise her with something new. Apparently he wasn't as heartless as she had thought.

But now the first week was over.

Hikari rarely stopped smiling during this time, and Koga was happy that she was smiling. However, she couldn't forget who she was looking for. So she was never completely free of care.

She continued to grow closer to Koga throughout the second week. He wasn't as bad as he'd first come off as. In fact, he was kind of fun to hang around with.

The last night of the two weeks came. She would be leaving within the next hour or so. She packed her stuff and was saying good-bye to the pack. Koga was the last.

She looked at her feet. "I had a good time, Koga."

"I'm glad…"

"And I……well…I wish it didn't have to end… but I really have to find-"

"The girl… I know…But-"

"But what?"

"I wish you didn't have to go…"

"I wish I didn't either…"

"Then stay!"

"I can't…"

Koga sighed. "I can do nothing to change you're mind then…"

Hikari stood from the tree stump she was sitting on. "No… not really…"

Koga looked straight in her eye. "Can I have one last favor?"

"Of course!"

"Don't kill me."

"Why would I kill you?"

Koga slipped his hand behind her neck and kissed her gently. This surprised her and she sat back down. Koga released her and stood looking his old cocky self. "Let me guess… You're still going to leave…"

Hikari smiled sadly. "I'm afraid I am…"

"Well… good bye then, and if you don't find anyone else, I'll be here…"

Hikari smiled, nodded and started down the path, following her instincts.

* * *


End file.
